Laptops were provided to Ariel’s kindergarten managers in a ceremony on May 22, 2012. Attending the ceremony were Ariel’s Mayor Mr. Ron Nachman; Uri Ben-Ari, Founder & President of the Atena Fund; Yossi Wasserman, Secretary General of the Teachers’ Association; Avi Zimmerman, the Executive Director of American Friends of Ariel; Ron Cohen, Marketing & Sales Manager of Bank Massad, members of the Teachers Association in Israel, inspectors from the Ministry of Education, and many other partners in this endeavor.
The event marked the completion of “Laptop for Every Teacher,” the distribution of laptops to all the education teams in the city from kindergarten to the 12th grade.
Ariel became the first city in Israel to combine technology and education by providing personal laptops and professional training to all teachers from kindergarten through the last year of high-school.
The Atena Fund and its partners, the Teachers Association and its professional promotion fund, the Ministry of Education and Bank Massad have worked diligently together to provide Ariel’s kindergarten teachers with these latest in educational tools. As part of the program, each kindergarten teacher that joins receives a laptop and 90 hours of professional training. This is intended to empower the teachers with additional progressive tools, tech-savvy, and the knowledge necessary to handle the information revolution.
Ariel’s participation in this program was made possible by American Friends of Ariel and its donors, by donations from the Ort Network of schools, and the Atena Fund and its donors and partners.
Yossi Wasserman, Secretary General of the Teachers’ Association said: “We try to keep up with the times, we develop and open new horizons and are ready to deal with the challenges of scientific information and touch screens. Based on accumulated knowledge we draw conclusions and build our future step by step. Now is the time for kindergarten teachers to participate, and we are happy to include them in the interactive computerized sphere. This indeed is another step in a world of progress. We are certain that the laptop is one of the tools most necessary to enhance the learning experience.
Uri Ben-Ari, Founder & President of Atena said: “Until today over 6700 teachers have received laptops and professional courses. We are pleased with the decision made by the Mayor of Ariel, Ron Nachman, to join the 171 towns that are already enjoying the program of “Laptop for Every Teacher,” and with it, the empowerment and enhancement of the teachers’ standing.”
Ron Nachman, Mayor of Ariel said that in 1997 he wrote his vision of the “Smart City.” This vision focused on developing 3 aspects: government, education and community. At that time, there was no broadband and no infrastructure for the Internet. Such technology and research & development were still in their infancy. The principles of “Smart City” in the field of government came to be in the project of “Accessible Governing,” or the creation of the central governing body. Since those early days” he continued, “revolutionary social networking communities like “Facebook” and “YouTube” have arisen. In education, we are on the verge of a revolution as well, and project “Laptop for Every Teacher” could hasten the change that is imminent in this fast evolving modern age.”
Ron Cohen, Bank Massad: “Our bank sees the Atena Fund and the “Laptop for Every Teacher” program as an important mission, and we feel that it is our responsibility to invest in the progress and status of Israel’s teachers. We are proud that through this sponsorship more kindergarten teachers will be given more laptops and the professional courses that will help to improve their abilities and advance education throughout the country.”